ms. landrieu: thank you. madam president, i come to the floor this morning to talk about another very important bill. there was an hour exchange about unemployment, which is extremely important for the nation, and i think people got to hear arguments on both sides, and they can continue to try to process that. but came to the floor this morning to talk about another very important piece of legislation that we do have very deep and very genuine bipartisan support for, and that is the flood insurance provision, the homeowner affordability act, which will correct some of the more egregious provisions of a bill that passed a year and a half ago called biggert-waters. the bill biggert-waters that was passed, named for the two members of the house that led that effort, were well-intentioned. in fact, i've had many wonderful conversations with maximum even waters, the -- with maxine waters, whose name carries that bill. and she had wonderful intentions, because california, like louisiana, depends on a program to wor

ms. landrieu: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: madam president, i am i understand that senator reed has been waiting to speak about his amendment and that unanimous consent allows that. i would like 30 seconds to responding to the coburn amendment, and i see the senator from tennessee, i'm not sure what brings him to the floor, but if i could have 30 seconds to respond to the coburn amendment. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. ms. landrieu: i want to underscore what the senator from new jersey just said. if our efforts were to repeal the biggert-waters bill, we would have drafted one to do so. this is not repealing biggert-waters. this is an honest, good-faith attempt to make the flood insurance program work. so we are insisting that the affordability study be done first. we're insisting that the maps be accurate, and we're insisting that fema recognize levees that taxpayers have built with their own money. is that too much to ask? think about that. an affordability study, to recognize levees t

ms. landrieu: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i'd like to speak for up to ten minutes. i think we're in morning business. the presiding officer: the senate is moving to proceed to consider motion s. 1926. ms. landrieu: wonderful. thank you. i'm going to speak on the bill that's before us, and i really appreciate the cooperation of so many members last night that voted to move forward on the debate of the fix to biggert-waters. we had a very strong, very impressive vote. i think 83 members, republicans and democrats, came together from all parts of the country, from all different areas and districts and backgrounds to vote to move forward on the debate on flood insurance, and i'm really grateful. we have been working on this for about a year and a half. it's been a tough slog because two years ago, a bill called biggert-waters was passed, named after the two cosponsors in the house, congresswoman biggert and congresswoman waters, who passed a bill with very good intentions, thinking that they wer

ms. landrieu: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i'd like to ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: mr. president, i understand that senator toomey and senator menendez will be coming down to the floor to have the last ten minutes of this debate, so i wanted to take just a moment to come to the floor to thank all of my colleagues for their -- those that helped so much, particularly in the early days a year and a half ago, to help make this bill possible today. this truly was a team effort, and i really appreciate the compliments from my colleagues about the leadership that i provided, and i'm happy to do so, but believe me, this never would have happened without a great team that was built to spread the word about the disastrous consequences of a law that had good intentions but really horrific ramifications on people all over the country. and because this is n

ms. landrieu: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: mr. president, i know that we're scheduled to take the final votes on this bill tomorrow morning and final passage at 2:00 and i just want to thank all the colleagues that were so cooperative today, discussing and moving through these amendments, and really appreciate the cooperation, bipartisan cooperation, open debate process. i think it's very been very helpful and i think we're building a better flood insurance program for the country which is our aim. so i yield the floor and thank senator menendez, and senator isakson for their leadership today. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to speak for probably 15 minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, this is the 56th time, the 56th consecutive week that we have been in session in the senate that i have come to the floor to sound an alarm about carbon pollu

ms. landrieu: madam president, i'm pleased to come to the floor today on following up on the very eloquent remarks and offer comments on the appropriations bill. but before i do, i want to thank the chairwoman and ranking member for really being a great inspiration to all of us. amidst all the controversy and dust-ups and toxic atmosphere and nonpartisanship that's going on, it's -- or lack of cooperation that's going on, it's wonderful to see the two of them working so closely together on a bill that's so important to the country. and as the great senator from new hampshire said, this is a bill for the people, for jobs, for our economy. it sends very positive signals across a breadth of industries that the federal government is stepping up to be a more reliable partner in these public-private partnerships that are represented in the funding of this bill, whether it's building our highways, building our space program, funding our department of defense, sending money to cities and counties that are doing all sorts of innovative and remarkable things with community development block grant fu

ms. landrieu: madam president, i see my colleagues from minnesota and south dakota on the floor. i know that they want to enter into a colloquy, but they have been gracious to allow me one minute on a separate subject, which is flood insurance, and i thank them so much. i want to before i start just congratulate the chairman of the appropriations committee who not only understands the issues in a major piece of legislation from science to space to technology to defense to homeland security to education and really keeps so much of that in her mind and her heart, but she also, as we can just see, can explain this important bill to us in a way that everyone can understand it, and the senator from maryland is just truly a champion and a treasure in the senate, and i want to, before she leaves the floor, just acknowledge her extraordinary leadership because we have -- it's a very tough time to find common ground, but she has found it. with her republican colleagues. and i just hope that we can get this bill through the floor of the senate the next two days or three. madam chair, let m

ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i see my colleague from iowa here, and i understand he has been scheduled to speak in just a few minutes for 20 minutes, but i'd like to ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call and to speak for up to five minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. at 5:30 today, the senate is going to take a very important vote, very important to people in many states, not just the state of louisiana, which i have had the honor and privilege of representing now for almost 18 years, but to states from one end of this country to the other, coastal states, interior states, on an issue that is very important to homeowners and business owners alike. the vote that we're going to take is to call -- to get on to debating a menendez-isakson bill that will fix the many urgent problems that have presented themselves in a recently passed bill called biggert-waters. biggert-waters was a bill that had wonderful intentions, which was to strengthen the fl

ms. gillibrand: i first want to thank senator menendez, senator landrieu and senator isakson for their tremendous leadership on the homeowners flood insurance affordability act, which i am a very proud cosponsor of and for working with me and my staff on an amendment that is so critical to so many new yorkers who are still recovering from superstorm sandy. mrs. gillibrand: my amendment is quite simple and common sense. it is aimed to help homeowners who are currently stopped in a bureaucratic ditch which is impossible for them to climb out of because of the immovable reality of the building they live in. under today's fema policy, flood insurance freedom rates are based on the elevation of the house relative to the base flood elevation, which is the elevation that fema calculates that floodwaters have a 1% chance of riseing to in any given year. under normal circumstances, homes can be elevated to avoid high insurance rates that are assessed on homes that are built below the base flood elevation in special flood hazard areas. but in places like new york and new jersey, this is impossible for owne

study, and i had told senator landrieu earlier that i wanted to come in and support her in the comments that she made earlier today. madam president, i yield the floor. ms. mikulski: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: madam president, what is the pending business before the united states senate? the presiding officer: h.j. res. 106 is the business pending before the senate. ms. mikulski: which is? the presiding officer: the short-term c.r. ms. mikulski: thank you very much, madam president. and i wish to rise in support of this. what this is is a simple short-term extension of the continuing funding resolution we passed some weeks ago. this is washington speak and budget speak for saying this. as of today, the money that keeps the federal government in operation expires. however, we have being debated in the house this afternoon a consolidated appropriations bill that will fund the government through fiscal year 2014 and will come to the senate either late this evening or will be on the floor tomorrow morning. madam president, i ask the senate to pass this short-term extension because it is a technical situa